The One Person Essential to Terry Wilson’s Success

Terry Wilson (aka Touchdown Terry) has been at the helm of the Kentucky football program for over a year now, but expectations are higher than ever. If you have followed me, you know I have never really been a fan of Terry and due to my friendship with Gunnar, I was a little biased. But with Hoak transferring, I am fully invested in Terry and him having the best season of his college career. It will happen… as long as AJ Rose is used correctly.

Terry Wilson has what it takes to be an elite quarterback. He is tall, athletic, and can run the RPO offense which the NFL seems to be leaning towards. He has the arm to make the downfield threat but you really never know where his ball will go. He has experienced the lowest of lows, including his season opener against Central Michigan where he went 11-18 with only 78 yards and 2 interceptions but he also has had his highlights when he beat Florida at the Swamp by throwing two touchdowns and running for one more. Terry has shown he has what it takes, especially against Kentucky’s rival opponents…so why can’t he do that every game?

If you look at Terry’s stats last season, the games he struggled in seemed to be the games that Benny excelled (minus Louisville where everyone killed it). Benny Snell was the best running back to come through Kentucky, we will not find another like him for a while. But what Kentucky does have is AJ Rose. AJ perfectly complements Terry. He is not the elite runner that Benny was, but he has the ability to be more effective in the passing game. No offense to Benny at all, like I said he was the best Kentucky has had, but he struggled in the passing game. Rose will perfectly complement Terry due to his ability to turn upfield and be more of a dual threat where Benny would just run over everyone.

If you take a closer look at the games Terry did well, you would also see that those were the games Bowden seemed to take over. I’m not promising that AJ Rose will be as effective as Lynn Bowden, but he’ll have a major effect. When you have two athletic runners on the field mixed with a dual threat QB, anything is possible, and that showed in the Louisville game. It was Terry’s best game and it just happened to be Rose’s best game where he rushed for 112 yards on only 10 attempts. Terry was very effective passing, Bowden was effective in the receiving game, and Rose took over on the ground.

Now, I’m not saying Kentucky will win 10 games like last season, but I do think they will have a better QB this season. Eddie Gran seemed to call a ton of plays for Benny (again he should have because Benny was unreal) but it seemed to take Terry out of any rhythm he had. Rose allows Terry to be Terry. They’ll go from the shotgun, just like with Snell, but we’ll see a ton more option, a ton more Bowden, and a ton more TD passes from Terry due to defenses having to cover Rose like an actual receiver…not just a RB like Snell.

2 thoughts on “The One Person Essential to Terry Wilson’s Success”

I think there’s a few things wrong here. Firstly, there was not an inverse proportion of performance with Benny and TDT. I point to the Texas A&M game. Neither one played well. They both looked like hot garbage in the Missouri game until the 2 minute mark of the game. There are other examples, but I think it was far from an either/or situation. The Florida game is one where they both performed well, and I think that is what most fans want to see: our running and passing games working in harmony with one another.

I also take issue with your assessment that Benny was terrible in the passing game. I saw him catch a few balls last year and turn them into positive yardage. I’m not sure why there is this perception that Benny is bad at it. His recieving numbers aren’t much different from Damien Harris, who many regard to be much more proficient in the recieving game.

TDT looked good at times last year, especially in spots where he had nothing to lose in his play. I think with a year under his belt and with an off season of film study with that experience under his belt, he’ll be much better. As long as our OL depth stays good, he’ll be fine. That is provided that our running game casn keep defenses honest, so in that respect, I think you’re right. AJ Rose is very important to the success of TDT and out team as a whole.

Having a reliable passing option coming out of the backfield will take a lot of pressure off Terry. That will make the running and passing game work like the Florida game and I think that was more the point Juice was trying to make. You’re absolutely right about the inverse performance though. Also, thank you for giving a constructive comment instead of just calling us idiots lol